Do we have enough land

Starburst

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24 August 2011
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Hi we have approx 1.5 acres with 3 stables. We have one 16.2 and one 15.2 who will be stabled at night and out in the day. Is this enough room for them?
Currently the field is split into 2 sections so we can rotate quite easily. Is the 1 acre per horse when a horse is out all the time and just on grass? If the grass isn't enough in winter we would put out hay. Just really wanted to be sure that this was enough room for them to move around ok. They are both semi retired and in light work.
 
i have 2 acres with a 16.1, 15hh,and mini. i have plenty of grass although restrict them in winter. They are in at night all year round and i feed hay,haylage to supplement and my horses and fields look great..
 
Its potentially enough room if you're willing to supplement them with hay. It depends on what your soil is like, how well draining is the land?
 
I have one acre with two stables and a 15.3 TB and a 14.1 Section D and we do fine. I have it divided up into 4 small paddocks as they both are very good doers and I feed hay in the winter in the paddock too. Both are fat and shiny all year round so I guess we are managing OK! :D
 
Thanks for your responses...the land is well drained. My 16.2 would go out all the time but the 15.2 needs restricting in the summer. I think that I would just keep them in either in the day or night depending on the season and would supplement them with hay/haylege. I would like to give it a go but I am a worrier! It's good to hear that others are managing ok with similar sized fields and horses
 
You will just have to restrict and be careful and make sure you give them other forage like haylage/hay. We have done it with a lesser ratio before.
It's enough land to give them turnout and if you sacrifice a small paddock in winter from December you will have a couple of summer paddocks with good grass.
 
I have 4 horses currently on 3 and a bit acres, 16.2 TB, yearling welsh D, 14.3 cob and an 11h (for the summer) pony. The TB and yearling are split off in a different section with grass and the fatties are on the bald bits, to be honest am only using around 2 acres as i have so much grass, so long as you keep up the poo picking and field management its fine.
In the winter i move my 3 to a 12 acre field down the road as in winter the field turns to a mud bath and holds onto the water........
 
I work on having 1.5 acres per average horse (anything around the 16hh mark) to support them all year round - stabled at night in winter. I like to have a high ratio as prefer them to have a more "natural" feeding style, however if you have good doers/ laminitics then a lower ratio would be okay. my cushings horse has 1/3rd of an acre patch for spring-autumn for a few hours turnout a day but he also has his own sand pen area to play in behind his stable when he has to be in. from the sounds of things tho your bigger lad would likely need an acre to himself realistically. I think you will have to substitute a lot with hay and if the ground turns boggy it can destroy all the grass for the next year causing a big problem. Can it be done?...probably but you will have to be careful.
 
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